ST: DS9: Oddities
by SheyConYamo
Summary: When the crew of Deep Space Nine encounter a life form they have never seen before, they get involved in the life of a very unique individual. How will they affect the course of his future, and how will he affect them? Massive OC- Please review!
1. Chapter 1

Prologue

"You will never defeat me!!!" Cried the demon construct in arrogance. As he said that, he made a motion behind him and all of the Guardians felt the great cohesion of power he was summoning. As they felt the coalescence, light started to appear in the area in which the power was gathering.

They did not know what he was doing, but they knew he had to be stopped. Then, suddenly, the construct sent a wave of power behind Areylunares, Areysolares, Maxwell, and Kayla. They were thrust forward towards the light, which had now grown to an almost blinding intensity. Narah-kue, in his Geldain form, flew between them and the light, and used his wings to force them away. In the process, he forced himself into the light, as he knew would happen. He did not know what would happen to him, but he knew he had to disband whatever it was that the demon had created. So, as he entered the cohesion, he made what he thought would be his last act. He used his power to cancel out and destroy the construct's creation.

XoXoX

It was an interesting sensation. Narah-kue could feel the power of the construct's creation dissipating around him. Strangely, he felt like he was going through something. He was not sure why, but he could not tell anything as it was because he couldn't see anything but white. Then, the white started fading into black and the feeling of going through something went away. In fact, he could not feel anything anymore, like he was floating in nothingness. Then, he saw tiny pinpricks of light all around, far off into the distance.

All of a sudden, right in the center of his vision, he saw a strange object. It had a central hub with parts of it stretching out to a ring that ran around it, and from the ring it had extensions that ran around the center of the object, almost like they were outlining a sphere. Then, he noticed objects, vessels, going to and departing from the larger object.

_Its a space station! I'm in the middle of outer space!!! _He realized. _Wait, I-_ Narah-kue suddenly convulsed as his body started reacting to the lack of oxygen. Had he taken a breath before entering the light he now knew to be a portal he would have been able to go for at least an hour before needing to take another; but he hadn't. His body started convulsing in full as his supply started running out. He then felt the waves of energy pass throughout and around him as his body started forcefully transforming back from his Geldain form to his Elden form. It was an involuntary reaction in an attempt to conserve oxygen.

Through the pain of the forced transformation, he tried to think of what he could do. Practically right next to him was a space station, ships, people! Was there any way he could contact them for help, would they listen, would he _want_ to contact them...

It was becoming painful to think. Narah-kue knew why. Lack of oxygen, the forced transformation, the vacuum of space he had been unable to prepare for. He was going to black out. His eyes rolled up, and he saw the space station, tilted onto it's side because he had managed to rotate while transforming. _Its a rather beautiful station. _He thought. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he realized that was not the appropriate thing to be thinking in this current situation, but the pressure in his head prevented him from doing anything about it. The burning constriction in his chest seemed to grow numb, as did the pulsing pressure in his head. Everything seemed to go numb. The edges of his vision started to fade. As Narah-kue's glittering, cyan blue eyes started to close, one last thought crossed his mind. _It is not an altogether bad way to die... with such a beautiful sight to be one's last... _

XXX


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 1

Commander Benjamin Sisko walked around the center console of Deep Space Nine's control room, watching carefully as the monthly maintenance checks were run. They were a pain in the ass, and usually took up half the day, but they were necessary. At least they were about halfway done.

He saw O'Brian and Dax on a starboard panel discussing something. His gaze continued to other technicians doing something or other. He sighed. As he came around the console he stopped and looked over Kira Nerys' shoulder. "Anything out of the ordinary, Major?"

Kira didn't even look up. "No sir. Everything seems to be in order." Commander Sisko could hear her smile. He smiled to himself and proceeded around her.

As he did so he looked up at the screen. _Everything seems to be in order out there too. _Then he stopped for a minute. _And... Why wouldn't it be?_ He chucked quietly to himself and shook his head.

"What are you laughing at?"

Sisko looked behind him to see Kira smiling at him. "Oh, nothing. Just had a funny thought, that's all."

"Good." she said. "I'd hate to think these monthly maintenance calls were driving you mad!"

Sisko laughed. "No, I'm not quite there yet! Just wait, though, the day is coming!" Kira laughed at that and went back to what she was doing. Commander Sisko shook his head with a smile and looked back at the screen. Then did a double-take.

It looked as if there might be a malfunction in the screen. The middle of the left-hand edge looked as if it was starting to glow white. He looked back to Miles. "O'Brian-" No sooner had he said that had the alerts started going off. "O'Brian, Kira, someone, give me a reading! What's going on?" Commander Sisko shouted out.

"An energy field, coordinates three-zero-five by six-three. Unknown application, unknown energy signature." Chief of Operations Miles O'Brian spouted off.

"Put it up on screen." Commander Sisko ordered.

"Got it." said Major Kira.

All eyes turned to the screen as an image of a nearly blinding white light was put on.

"Any idea what that is?" Sisko asked no one in general as he squinted at the light.

Lieutenant Commander Jadzia Dax was the first to answer. "No sir. The readings are coming up unknown on all counts, but the energy levels are through the roof."

"Should we raise shields?" Kira asked.

Before Commander Sisko could answer Miles cut him off. "Commander! There's a spike in energy levels coming from the field!"

"Raise shields!" Sisko ordered.

Major Kira input the command and the shields were up. Everyone watched as the light on screen suddenly pulsed a bright cyan blue. It glowed even brighter than before and everyone either looked away or put their arms up in front of their faces. The glow started to die down and everyone looked back.

Commander Sisko watched intently. The light, and presumably the energy, was starting to fade. As the light dimmed even further, he noticed something, seeming to originate from the center of the light.

"Sir!" called Lt. Cmdr. Dax, "There's a life form!"

"What?!" Sisko looked back at her in surprise. Several others looked back as well; many people echoed him.

"The, the energy is dissipating, but, it looks like a life form came from it- from out of it." She looked back to the screen.

Sisko looked back just in time to see the light finally disappear in a ring around the life form in question, which looked to be floating away from the former source. He couldn't quite make it out... In fact, he wasn't sure what he was seeing at all. _Wait a minute! It can't be! _"Major, zoom in on it." Kira did just that. Almost everyone gasped.

The first thing that came to Sisko's mind was it looked like... a dragon. He couldn't be sure of it's size but it looked huge. It was a beautiful silver color, and it looked like it was glittering. It had massive wings that were semi folded and a great long tail. One thing that struck him as odd, though, was that it didn't have spikes going down it's back like how most dragons were depicted, but instead had brilliant white fur, or hair, going right down it's long neck and back and ending in what almost looked like a lion-like tail tip. It was quite beautiful.

Suddenly, it moved it's head... towards the station. It was looking at them. That was when he became aware of it's beautiful cyan eyes, and what looked to be a third eye, right in the middle of it's forehead. It was then too that he noticed the large horns flowing back from the sides of it's head and flaring out. Commander Sisko was mesmerized; as was about everyone else in the room.

Suddenly, the dragon jerked. That brought him out of his daze. "Dax! Report!" All he got was an "Uh..." before the creature started convulsing. Or, that's what it looked like it was doing. "Jadzia!!"

"It looks like its going into convulsions, Sir, it- what the?"

"Lieutenant Commander!"

"Its starting to radiate energy, Sir!" she finally got out.

Everyone looked back at the screen. It was indeed radiating energy. Bright, cyan blue light was winding it's way around the life form and it was starting to pulse with that same light. Before everyone's eyes, the dragon-like creature was starting to shrink. Almost quicker than they could follow, it shrank into a pinprick of cyan colored light against the backdrop of space.

"Dax!" Commander Sisko shouted.

"Its- its still there, Sir, but it's size and mass has altered. Its, its now, humanoid." Jadzia answered. She could hardly believe what she was seeing, but the data was all there.

Commander Sisko looked back to the screen. "Kira, zoom in more!"

Kira zoomed in as far as she could, but in the end, all that showed up on screen was what looked like a grey blob with a silver speck in it.

"Sir! The life form's energy signature is fading- its dying." Jadzia announced.

"What are your orders?" asked Kira.

Sisko went over his options as fast as he could. There was really only one thing to do. "Notify Doctor Bashir that he is receiving an emergency patient. Lower shields and transport the life form into the infirmary. Notify Odo and have him send a security team to the infirmary just incase."

"Yes Sir!" came a chorus of replies.

Sisko looked back to the screen. He just barely saw the flash of the transporter ray.

When there was nothing left on screen, Kira turned off the zoom. Sisko looked back at everyone in the room. They all had the same look of apprehension on their faces that was probably on his.

He looked Kira in the face. "It looks like everything is _not_ in order, Major."

XXX

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**Tell me what you think! I would appreciate feedback, especially if there is something about the Star Trek Universe that doesn't seem to add up. Chances are, I missed it or don't know about it. Regardless, reviews are appreciated and welcome! Thank you for reading! ^.^**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 2

Dr. Julian Bashir was quietly reading a recent medical article. It had been slow lately, and he had taken care of the various chores that needed to be done in the infirmary, so, he could think of nothing better to do. He was getting bored though. He'd already read the same paragraph three times and still couldn't remember what he had read. That happened when he was extremely tired or really bored with whatever he was reading. The latter was to blame.

Julian sighed and tossed his pad onto his desk. He rubbed his eyes. "Isn't there anything else I can do?"

Suddenly, the station-wide alert went off signaling the shields had been raised. He immediately got up and went to the infirmary entrance and looked out across the promenade. Everyone was looking up as if they could see what was going on as well.

Suddenly, he heard shouts and gasps. He looked straight foreword to the balcony overhang of the second floor. There was a bright white light shining in through the windows. The patrons were looking at it and shielding their eyes when the light suddenly turned a bright cyan blue. Several patrons ducked and Julian threw his hand in front of his eyes. "What is that?!" He would have gone up to look himself, but in the event of an emergency he had to stay in the infirmary until ordered otherwise incase anyone was injured.

As the light started to fade, Julian lowered his hand, and the patrons went back to looking out the windows. It faded until it was completely gone, but something was still happening. The patrons were talking to one another and pointing. They broke out in gasps again and Julian saw a faint cyan glow, but then it was gone and the patrons started asking questions to one another. It seemed that whatever had happened was over.

"Lt. Cmdr. Dax, to Dr. Bashir!"

Julian hit his communicator. "Dr. Bashir, here!"

"Prepare for incoming transport, unknown life form, energy signature fading- probably in critical condition. A security team should be there shortly. Caution is advised."

"Understood." Bashir confirmed. As he went back into the infirmary to get his scanner and tools ready, he shoved his apprehension from his mind. If this life form was in need of medical attention, he would give it; if he could.

The station alert went off, and he only had to wait a few seconds before the transporter beam came to life above one of the infirmary beds. He walked up quickly then stepped back a few feet remembering the warning. The being started to materialize, and then the transport was done. Julian was dumbstruck. He walked forward slowly as he took in the alien before him.

It appeared to be a male. He was tall, over two meters, and was wearing robes of grey and silver. But Julian was more entranced by the man's face. He was... statuesque, for lack of a better word. His features were very angular. He had high cheekbones, a smooth jaw-line, upward slanting eyes. His ears were long and pointed, almost like a Vulcan's but longer. Much longer. More than that, he had horns. They started near the top of his temples and wrapped up and flared out at the ends. His hair appeared to be pure silver in color and was _very_ long, except for his bangs which went to his eyebrows. As Julian got closer, he noticed what appeared to be a relatively large jewel, centered on his forehead. It was a beautiful cyan blue color. His pale skin was an interesting offset to the silver of his hair and the blue of the jewel. Julian wondered offhandedly what color his eyes were, since he was quite unconscious.

Suddenly, Julian remembered what he was supposed to be doing. _Idiot! I'm a doctor, that should have been the first thing I was doing! _He opened his scanner and quickly began scanning.

He was definitely male, that much was certain. His heart rate was an even 72, his temperature was 32.2 C and rising steadily. However, there was more there. Julian's brows furrowed as he took in the readings. There was something about his cellular structure that Julian had never seen before. The cells in the man's body were constructed... differently. And... there was an unknown reading; something the scanner could pick up but could not interpret. It looked like there was an... energy, flowing steadily throughout the man's body.

Julian looked up from the scanner to the man's face. It was not unusual that he would not be able to understand the readings from an unknown life form, but this was just... odd. He looked back to the scanner. The man's breathing rate had almost been nonexistent when he had first taken his readings but it was now at a more regular rhythm, if not a little shallow. Well, possibly regular. Most humanoid life forms had relatively similar readings, which was what he was going on.

Julian heard the infirmary doors open and turned to see Odo coming in with two other security officers. They had their hands on their phasers. Him and Odo nodded to each other before Odo really looked at the alien. His face mirrored how Julian had felt just earlier.

"Rather striking, isn't he?" Julian asked in amusement.

"I'll say." said Odo. "What do you have?" he asked, getting back to business.

"Not much." Julian answered. "His readings look relatively normal with respect to the basic humanoid standard, but there are some... oddities."

"Oddities?" Odo asked suspiciously.

"Readings I can't make sense of. Which is to be expected really, since he is the first life form of his kind we have encountered." Julian looked back to the alien.

"He is unconscious then?" Odo asked.

"Yes, quite. It appears," Julian looked back at his scanner, "that he lost consciousness possibly due to oxygen deprivation. There is no damage, though. Lasting or otherwise. Which is... odd."

Odo nodded and looked back at the man. He was a rather _odd_ sight. He wasn't much, considering what came through the station on a regular basis, but... he was different. There was something about him that... was just different compared to everything else he had encountered. "Have you any more information than I do?" Odo asked.

"Nothing beyond what I just gave you." Julian answered. He looked back at his scanner and continued with his readings. Something else came up that was... rather hard to believe. Julian's eyebrows shot up and he looked to the jewel on the alien's forehead.

"What is it?" Odo asked apprehensively.

"I'm... not entirely sure." Julian said. "I'll have to input this into the computer..." He went to do just that.

Odo kept watch as Julian input the data from the scanner and started analyzing it. No one said a word.

After about five minutes the infirmary doors opened and they all turned to see Commander Sisko, Major Kira, and Lt. Cmdr. Dax entering.

"Dr. Bashir, how is our guest?" Commander Sisko asked.

"At the moment, he is unconscious and appears to be in stable condition." Julian answered as he walked back over to the guest in question.

Commander Sisko and the other two followed, getting their first look at him as he was. They were just as amazed as Julian, Odo, and the other security officers had bean.

"Amazing!" said Jadzia.

"You can say that again." said Kira.

"Are we missing something?" Julian asked.

"Yes actually, you are." answered Commander Sisko. He looked up at Dr. Bashir and then back at the alien. "When this... man, first came up on the sensors he was in a different form."

"A different form?" asked Odo. If anyone knew about that subject, it was him.

"Yes." said Sisko, looking at Odo. "We estimate the form he was first in to be over 200 times larger than the form he is in now, and it looked _very_ different."

"It looked a lot like a mythical beast from Earth lore called a Dragon." said Jadzia, still looking at the alien.

"Really? A dragon?" asked Bashir incredulously.

Sisko nodded. He looked back at the man and noticed his forehead. "That's interesting. When we first saw him, in his other form, from the distance he was, this looked like a third eye." he said as he pointed to the jewel.

"It shrank with him..." Kira said to herself as she looked at the jewel too.

"You know," said Dr. Bashir, "what you're saying about another form might explain the odd readings I've gotten."

Sisko looked at him. "Please explain."

Julian walked back to his console followed by Sisko, Kira, Dax, and Odo. He brought up the data from his scans. "If you'll look here," Julian pointed to the screen, "you'll see an unusual structure to his cells, all of them."

They all looked, but only Jadzia seemed to really know what they were looking at. "They seem to be crystalline in structure." she observed with furrowed brows.

"Yes, they are constructed with a crystalline symmetry, but are completely organic, as they should be. But, they are also constructed according to a pattern." He zoomed in on a single cell. "It is hard to see, but there is an inverse pattern to the structure of the cells, almost every cell in his body has this... well," Julian moved his hand in the air as he tried to find the right word, "duality, if you will. Its hard to understand and I had trouble figuring out exactly what it was for, but if he has, well, two forms, then it is possible that he can invert his cell's structure and transform into his other form at will. That could be, or probably is, the purpose of the duality." Julian looked to the others to see if they understood. Seeing that they did, he continued. "If that is the case, and he has another form that he can take and change into at will, then what this means," he gestured towards the screen showing the cell, "is that he can only take two forms. There are only two patterns within this structure, so as far as I can see it, and, if I understand this correctly, he only has this current form and the one you saw." He looked to the others and saw they were all giving him a variation of a look that said _And this means?_ "Ah, meaning, he is not a shape-shifter like Odo. He can not take any form he wants, just one of two."

They all nodded their heads in understanding. Before anyone could ask a question Bashir continued with his assessment. "That may also explain another reading that I found... um, odd." He pulled up the reading of the strange energy within the alien. "If you look at this, you'll see that there appears to be some sort of energy flowing throughout all of his body." He looked to the others.

"Amazing!" said Sisko quietly.

"You said it!" said Dax.

"I wasn't sure what to make of this, and I'm still not quite sure, but, you said that his other form was around 200 times larger than this?" Sisko, Dax, and Kira nodded. "Well, if he were to transform from this form to another _that_ big, then he would likely need a very large amount of energy to do so." He gave them a look that said that this was only a possible explanation for this reading.

"Very interesting." said Odo, practically speaking for them all.

"What about that jewel?" asked Sisko. "Do you know anything about that?"

"Well... " Julian looked to the screen of the computer. He brought up the data for that particular subject. "I was a little surprised when my readings for that came back. I had thought that it was a jewel as well, but actually it is some sort of bio-organic crystal."

"A bio-organic crystal?" asked Dax.

"Yes. It has all the characteristics of a crystal but is made of organic compounds. From the results of the scan, I can tell you that it is nearly as hard as diamond, about two thirds as refractive as one, and... " he looked at them before continuing, "grows directly out from his forehead."

They all had a different look in response to that. Kira became incredulous. "Now, hold on a second." They all looked at her. "If that is a _part_ of him, then why does it have a _symbol_ in it?"

They all realized that that was a very good question. The cyan blue crystal that sat in the center of the alien's forehead indeed had a symbol in it. They had all noticed the perfect circle, through the exact center of which ran a strait, horizontal line. On top of that line sat a perfect triangle, the top of which touched the very top of the circle in which it sat. How could a symbol that perfect form naturally within, or on, a living being?

Dr. Bashir looked back at the computer screen, then shook his head. "I don't know how or why, but that symbol is just as natural and organic as the rest of that crystal. It is a part of it, like it grew there with the crystal."

"How is that possible?" asked Kira.

"Like I said, I don't know how. I can just tell you what the scans say." answered Julian. "But that's not all." He added. "It turns out, that the same energy that appears to be within him, is within that crystal as well."

"Does it, originate from the crystal?" asked Dax.

"I'm not sure really." said Julian, crossing his arms. "I can't quite figure out the relationship between that crystal and the energy. Its all rather... interesting. For lack of better description."

"Definitely." agreed Kira.

"Hm." Sisko looked at the others and then walked back to the bed of the alien. The others followed, Dr. Bashir taking his scanner with him. "This is a very _interesting_ person we have on our hands." said Sisko.

"Hopefully an interesting person who's natural body temperature is supposed to be 39.2 degrees." said Bashir as he scanned the man again. "Oh! There was something I forgot to mention." said Bashir as he turned to Commander Sisko and the others. "The structure of the brain indicates that he might be telepathic, although I can't be entirely sure."

"Well, it looks like that will be one of the many things we will have to find out." said Sisko with a smile. Bashir and the others smiled as well. _Let's just hope he will be willing to answer our questions. _Sisko thought. Beyond the mystery of the being himself, Commander Sisko still wanted an explanation of the event earlier. Which brought him to the realization that Bashir, and Odo, didn't know that the being had been out in the vacuum of space, and probably shouldn't even be alive right now. He watched as Bashir went back to scanning.

Suddenly, Julian's eyebrows furrowed. "Wait a minute." His eyes shot to the alien's face and Sisko immediately followed his gaze. Barely a moment passed before the alien's eyes flew open.

Faster than any of them could follow, the alien got up, whipped around, and was standing stock still with the infirmary bed between him and them. Suddenly, Sisko found himself being stared down by the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen. They were pure cyan, and the pupils were vertical slits instead of round circles. The exotically slanted eyes betrayed no emotion, but the body language of the man said everything. He was standing at his full height, but he was poised, ready to move at any second. He didn't know if they were friend or foe, and Sisko had no doubt he would do whatever necessary to ensure his survival.

"Its all right." He said. He looked to Odo and his officers and motioned for them to put their phasers away. Odo paused for only a second before nodding to his men. Sisko looked back to the man and slowly raised his hands in an attempt to calm him. There was no change in expression or posture, but he had a feeling that the man felt less threatened. "We are not going to hurt you." Sisko said calmly. "You are safe here." He never broke eye contact as he was talking.

The man glanced very quickly at the faces of everyone present before looking back at Sisko. He did nothing else.

Sisko continued. "I am Commander Benjamin Sisko, of the space station Deep Space Nine, which we are currently aboard." The man still did nothing and continued to stare at him. Sisko glanced at Kira. "This is my second in command, Major Kira Nerys." The man looked at her. His stared into her eyes for a few moments before looking back at him. Sisko didn't know why, but he felt this was the right direction to go in. He went around and introduced everyone present. Each time one of the others was introduced, the man would look into their eyes for a few moments. After the last person was introduced, the man looked back into Sisko's eyes. He was quite sure that the man was at least calmer now than he had been before. "Now," said Sisko, "what's your name?" He made sure that only calm curiosity was present in his voice.

The man continued to stare into his eyes, seeming to contemplate whether to answer or not. Sisko stayed quiet, as did the others.

Finally, after several moments of silence: "Narah-kue."

Sisko's eyebrows went up just slightly. The man had a smooth, deep voice, not quite a baritone, but striking to say the least. "Narah-kue." Sisko said, trying it out. He kept up eye contact. "Is that all?" he asked raising his eyebrow.

The benefit of having continuously stared at the man for so long was that he caught the slight movement of his eyes. This Narah-kue was in extremely good control of himself to keep himself from making even subconscious movements. He was either going to have blinked or glanced away. Regardless, Sisko was quite sure he was the only one who noticed.

"Seventh Guardian of Alyndium."

Sisko blinked... It was his title. He had said his name and title, and everyone else's names and titles, so Narah-kue said his name and title.

Sisko inclined his head, still not breaking eye contact. "May I ask what Alyndium is?" he asked.

There was a pause. "My homeworld."

Sisko nodded once. "My homeworld is known as Earth." There it was again, that slight movement of his eyes. It looked like he was keeping himself from blinking. "May I ask what it is you guard?" At this question, something about Narah-kue's demeanor changed. Sisko couldn't tell what it was, but he didn't think it was bad.

"Life."

Sisko blinked again. He couldn't hide his surprise. "Life?"

There was only a small pause before Narah-kue answered. "I protect the lives of those who cannot protect themselves, from dangers too powerful for them to fight."

Sisko was... well, dumbstruck, as was everyone else in the room. The sincerity in Narah-kue's voice was genuine to his ears. It was a rather... _interesting_ concept. Then, a thought occurred to him. "Then, that means we have nothing to fear from you?"

This time, Narah-kue was not able to stop himself from blinking. That one simple motion seemed to... humanize him; and break his mask. The first expression they had seen on his face since he woke up was one of surprise. It wasn't a great show of emotion. It was very subtle, but also strangely obvious. It was as if he hadn't expected them to be afraid of him.

"No. You have nothing to fear from me." he said quietly.

Suddenly, Sisko realized that all the tension that had been in Narah-kue's body was gone. He was simply standing there, staring at him. Sisko lowered his hands and rested his right one on the bed. He still hadn't broken eye contact. Having not done so, he realized that despite the fact that there was no longer a complete void of emotion on his face, Narah-kue was still a stoic person. Even though he was calm and no longer seemed closed off, he still showed no emotion on his face.

Commander Sisko decided to press his luck. "Narah-kue?" Narah-kue did nothing but continue to stare at him. He took that as a sign to continue. "Do you remember what happened to you?" he asked gently.

Narah-kue stared at him for a few moments before looking away from all of them for the first time. He was now staring at the infirmary bed in front of him, as if trying to remember. Seconds passed by. The silence stretched on. Just when Sisko was about to say something, Narah-kue finally spoke.

"I... " He looked up. Sisko nodded to him as affirmation to continue. "I was in a battle." Sisko and the others remained quite. "Over the course of it, our enemy created something that was unknown to us at the time. It managed to throw four of my... " Here he paused. It looked to Sisko like he was searching for the right word. "family, towards it."

_His family? _Sisko thought. _Why would his family be near a battle? _Then, Sisko blinked. "Was your family... fighting with you?" he asked. He could practically feel the others looking at him. Narah-kue had made it clear that he hadn't been alone in the battle, and then had brought up his family. Maybe he had been wondering if he should have actually said it was his family.

His answer clarified if for all of them: "Yes."

Sisko just stared at Narah-kue. _Perhaps they're like him._ he thought. He nodded once, to say he understood and to continue.

"As I said, we didn't know what it was, but we always expect the worst. I flew between them and the creation and forced them away. Doing so forced me into it." Sisko started piecing it together as Narah-kue recited the story. "The only thing I felt I could do was destroy it before I died. During that process... " Narah-kue paused. Something flashed across his face, but none of them could identify it before it was gone. "I realized that the creation was a portal."

A small intake of breath was heard from Sisko. That actually made a lot of sense. The white light and energy was the portal being created, the spike in energy was when Narah-kue was destroying it as he went through. But, how did he destroy it?... The energy Dr. Bashir had detected! Was Narah-kue able to use that somehow?

Before Commander Sisko got carried away with that train of thought, something occurred to him. _That portal is gone. _He focused on Narah-kue again. _And... we have no idea where it came from... Where _he_ came from._ As he studied Narah-kue's face, he suddenly realized there had been another change in his demeanor.

Narah-kue wasn't staring at him anymore. He was staring downward, his eyes aimed more at Sisko's chest. In fact, he wasn't actually staring at anything. His eyes were unfocused. Something wasn't right.

Narah-kue was searching; searching with all his strength. He couldn't feel them. He stretched his senses to the farthest of their reach, but he couldn't feel anything. They weren't there. If they were there, he wouldn't even have to strain to find them… but, they weren't. His son, grandson, grandchildren… His family. They weren't there. They were nowhere near him.

They were gone.

"Narah-kue?"

Narah-kue looked up. Commander Sisko was looking at him with concern. They all were.

He drew his awareness into himself and realized that he suddenly felt week. His thoughts were suddenly jumbled, he couldn't think straight. He opened his mouth and almost didn't know what was coming out. "I…" He realized the concern on Commander Sisko and the other's faces had increased. Along with that realization came the odd feeling that his head wasn't working right. It felt like his senses were getting mixed up and the sensory input wasn't getting to his brain. "I…" Everything suddenly started blurring, although the look on Sisko's face was pretty clear. "I can't… " blurring, shifting, swirling colors, "… feel them."

As Narah-kue fell sideways to the floor Sisko and the others lunged forward. Dr. Bashir being the closest, he caught him. "Gah!! He's heavier than he looks!"

"Narah-kue!" Commander Sisko ran around to his other side and knelt to get a better look at him. It looked like he was out cold.

Odo handed Dr. Bashir his scanner. "He's just passed out." Bashir said as he looked at the readings. "Although, 'just passed out' might be an understatement."

"You think!" Kira burst out. She almost looked angry.

Sisko could understand why. That actually looked scary. In less than a minute, Narah-kue had turned white, went limp, and just fell. That hadn't necessarily been the scariest part though. The expression on his face had been the scariest. Sisko didn't think he had ever seen someone look so… poignant. He had had the most sorrowful, lost expression on his face. His words played back in Sisko's head. _"I can't… feel them." _"Dr. Bashir."

Julian looked up. "Yes, Commander?"

"You said that his brain structure indicated he might be telepathic?"

"Yes, although-" Julian suddenly blinked in realization. He looked down at Narah-kue. "That's what he meant. If he is telepathic then he can probably 'feel' their minds. Not being anywhere near them… He can't feel their minds anymore." He looked back up at Sisko.

Sisko looked up to see the security guards exchanging glances, as well as Dax and Kira. Odo looked rather unreadable, but he was pretty sure he felt just as sorry for Narah-kue as the rest of them. He looked back down at Narah-kue's face. His skin was almost paper white, and even thought he was unconscious the shadow of his emotion was still there. He still looked lost. "Alright," Sisko said, "lets get him back on the bed. We'll wait until he wakes up and go from there."

XXX

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**So, this is my second chapter! Well, technically third, but anyway! I hope you have liked it so far. I didn't update in so long because things got in the way. Hopefully, I will be able to update sooner. **

**Anyway, same goes for this as the last, if something doesn't seem right let me know so I can fix it. Also, I didn't originally have the measurments and temperatures in metric but I remembered that is what they use so I changed it. For anyone not familiar with metric, Narah-kue is 7' tall, the first temperature was 90 degrees F and the second was 102.5 F.**

**Thank you for reading and reviews are welcome! ^.^ **

**Because I forgot to do this: I don't own anything Star Trek. If it is even remotely Star Trekian, I don't own it. ;)**


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